Now most smartphone manufacturers have borrowed one or more of those cues. Palm's Pre, for instance, was the first iPhone rival to include multi-touch. Microsoft's Windows Mobile will reportedly employ it next.

Another iPhone revolution: The App Store. While other smartphone platforms could use third-party apps for years, Apple was the first to make an app platform that was easy for developers to write apps for, and a store that was easy for consumers to browse, purchase, and download apps from.

Now everyone has a widget platform and sort-of "app store" -- even some TVs.

App Store

Apple wasn't the first to open up smartphones to third-party developers. But it did it in a way that no one else had figured out: A simple, consumer-friendly way to browse, purchase, and install free and paid apps. In nine months, iPhone and iPod touch users downloaded 1 billion apps, from fart noise makers to leaf trombones.

Now every smartphone platform -- and many other gadgets -- has to have an app store, and Apple has used its head start as a marketing advantage.

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70% Cut To App Developers

Before the iPhone App Store, mobile developers were used to selling apps through carriers -- and giving up half or more of the revenue.

Since Apple decided on a 70% (developer) and 30% (Apple) revenue split, other platforms have had to take that same model. It's a better deal for developers, which means more of them can afford to invest in the iPhone. That's better for consumers and Apple, too.

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Gesture-Based Interface

Other touchscreen phones tried to work like a computer: Poke a "Start" button on a Windows Mobile phone, or click on small menus with a stylus.

The iPhone was the first to employ an intuitive, gesture-based interface, such as "flicking" through a menu, between photos, or from one screen to the next. It's fun, it makes sense, and it feels very human. Since then, many other phones -- on both the high and low ends of the market -- have borrowed the idea.

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Better Web Browsers

The iPhone's MobileSafari was the first of the mobile browsers that really tried to bring as much of the real Web to a small screen. (Though it still doesn't support some stuff, like Flash.)

Since then, other platforms have built similar Web browsers based on the same guts -- Webkit, an open source browser project that Apple tends to. These include Google's Android and Palm's WebOS. The iPhone -- thanks in part to that great browser -- also got people using the Web a lot more than other smartphone platforms.

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Video

This is still a work in progress, and more prediction than proof, so far. (And some other smartphones have been much better for shooting video than the iPhone for years, such as the Nokia N95.)